Cut-and-paste the answer to e-learning copyright

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If interactive e-learning is to prosper, a complementary
licensing model must be found to supplement the traditional use of
copyright. Unlike other forms of content, e-learning development
tends to be customised as it journeys to the student.

This means a work may be copied and amended far beyond any
statutory rights allowed for educational purposes, to fit a state's
curriculum or local business' need. But without a flexible
licensing model, original generic material may remain too general
to satisfyspecific training needs.

However, the passage of content from concept to consumption may
not be linear. For example, courseware is sometimes passed around
trainers from many organisations, working in online collaboration -
with students ultimately receiving the composite work.

These loose arrangements can confuse the administration of
copyright ownership - and who should be paid royalties - since the
simple copyright model framed in legislation doesn't directly
support open collaboration between legally unassociated
parties.

Yet Dennis MacNamara, business development manager of
e-learning exchange AEShareNet, says the digital world of sharing,
value adding and reinventing will not destroy the copyright
principle - only bend it through new licensing models.

"The old style of 'you can't touch it' may be dead," he says.
"Instead, you might have to specify what can be done or how it can
be shared. In some ways, intellectual property is more pervasive
across education and life in a digital environment."

The need to develop a more sophisticated approach to copyright
for e-learning is also mandated by its higher cost of production.
This can be an order of magnitude more expensive than traditional
text books, since the best e-learning is interactive, often
requiring software developers as well as authors.

"One of my arguments about more sharing is producing online
content is not necessarily cheap," Mr MacNamara says. "That's why
you need value adding. I think there will be some kind of
aggregation so people don't have to start from scratch and develop
their own."

Information lifecycles - the time it takes for curriculum to
become obsolete - are also shortening. In a connected world, new
ways of doing things transfer faster. E-learning developers
therefore need to relinquish sole control over works.

"It's more like licensing than the traditional view of
copyright," Mr MacNamara says. "In the digital world, if you do
want to let people cut and paste, you need to be up front and let
people know what they can do - rather than be reactive in waiting
until they ask you. What you want in e-learning is an implied
licence in the way you mark up the material."

One model for generating such licences is through the Creative
Commons website (creativecommons.org). By answering a few simple
questions, copyright holders can reserve some rights over their
work while still granting wide powers of reproduction and
modification to third parties.

AEShareNet, on the other hand, employs a slightly different
model, also offering commercial licences and brokering the monetary
transaction between authors and users for ongoing royalty
payments.

The exchange offers a dispute resolution service if a copyright
problem emerges from the use of their standardised licences. Mr
MacNamara says it's still "early days" for these services, with
about 100 commercial licences being transacted through the site
each month.

Yet one can't help wondering how commercial copyright licences
might ever be enforced. AEShareNet's view is today's technology
isn't good enough for cost-effective copyright protection - so it's
a matter of making enough money out of organisations whose policy
mandates obedience to the law and respect for other peoples'
copyright. "My view is it's not worth making the technology
investment unless the content is of high value," Mr MacNamara
says.

Mr MacNamara concedes that home users are all but beyond the
reach of copyright law. However, if used in conjunction with
reasonable licensing, copyright may support a viable e-learning
industry for business in harnessing the benefits of sharing
ideas.